NJ is 100% correct, of course. Just hope the SMT have the funding and capability to keep up with his wishes.
It’s all about budgets. Seemed early on that our budget was and let’s be generous here, about penny pinching. No disrespect to the bloke because he seemed a genuinely nice man but Holden had no credentials to take us forward and was undoubtedly about as cheap as you could get. Similarly, Appleton had nothing in his CV to inspire much confidence other than hope. A journeyman manager. On the other hand Jones comes with a CV and perhaps a little bit of a bruised reputation. Would have in my opinion got a Championship gig by next Christmas if not before. He wouldn’t have signed without a club vision that he could do something and get funded adequately. The signing of Coventry and the ultimately failed attempt to sign JCH plus Jones of course directs me to believe the budget has significantly increased. The SMT have a bigger pot to play with and with Jones’s not inconsiderable I’d imagine influence we’ll see an upgrade in signings. I’ve never bought into this squad only needs a few tweaks. It requires significant investment and pruning. I’m hopeful the vibes we’re getting all point in that direction.
A manager we can all get behind, positive ownership vibes and no youngsters looking like they're walking away in the summer for peanuts. What's happened to the club I love?
Hopefully the short term deals for the likes of Wickham and Lua Lua suggest that actions will actually match words this time - it suggests that Jones has already started making plans for next year at least in terms of the type of player he's after if not specific names yet.
Ipswich did something very similar IIRC where they essentially wrote off the last month or two of a season and treated it as extended planning/preparation for the next one and it worked out pretty well for them.
On the other hand, saying the right thing and making the right noises has never been the problem for the Consortium/SMT - it's actually following up on it they need to do more consistently, but hopefully Jones will be a part of that.
Positive words and don't doubt Jones does want business done early but wanting something and getting it are different things.
Let’s see who's on the plane to Malaga or whereever.
Bang on the money. Every manager wants this, Jones has just been clever enough to use the good run of form and his power to force the ownership’s hand a little bit more than Holden or Adkins would’ve dared to in the past.
Now we wait and see what ACTUALLY happens. It could be a very exciting summer. Or it could be a massive let down.
We were so short of signings at the start of this season that Dean Holden had to take half the under 21s on our pre season tour to Spain. Getting your signings done early gives you a far better chance of getting of to a good start when the season begins. Let's hope it happens
A major point of having a pre season tour is building team spirit, so it's a massive failing is much of your 1st team squad isn't there.
As it happens we are starting in a better position than last year anyway, as with the business done in January we already have a core of players.
Can’t pinpoint it but at some point during Appletons tenure the men with the money decided that a change in strategy was required. Jones coming in was about as good an appointment as we could have possibly achieved and what we’ve seen and are now hearing seems to confirm to me at least that we’re prepared to invest some decent money in order to progress. Getting business done early isn’t the cheap option so I think we’ve got to be excited for the summer and next season. Of course the proof is as alway in the eating but I’m about as positive as I’ve been for some time. I doubt we’d have got Jones without some serious guarantees about spending and strategy.
At first that sounds logical, but is it ? Yes, you will have to spend more money up front to force early decisions by players and clubs. But if you leave it until the end of the window you are, potentially, wasting matches and missing out on points that could be crucial at the end of the season. The differences between the auto spots and playoff lottery or between playoffs and missing out altogether are rarely many points so why reduce your promotion chances by being deliberately understrength for 10-15% of matches.
Take your point but in purely financial terms it’s expensive to target a specific player and get it done.
In purely financial terms it's even more expensive not getting promotion.
Heard it before. Hope it happens and it's a good thing to target but ultimately very hard to do. If we fall a bit short but have the core of a good squad by then and hold out for a few quality additions later in the window then that'll be a good effort and a success.
I know it's all a bit glitz but Wrexham are an example of when you flash a bit of cash, get the fans inside and build something. Whilst they are reported to be well indebted to the owners, the club is surely moving in the right direction.
Something similar in League One can't be so much more expensive, can it?
I watched a report on Sky this morning and of course the correlation between £spend and success is very high. Let's hope our owners can bankroll whatever Jones is asking them for. If not, I doubt he'll stay.
Comments
Ipswich did something very similar IIRC where they essentially wrote off the last month or two of a season and treated it as extended planning/preparation for the next one and it worked out pretty well for them.
On the other hand, saying the right thing and making the right noises has never been the problem for the Consortium/SMT - it's actually following up on it they need to do more consistently, but hopefully Jones will be a part of that.
Now we wait and see what ACTUALLY happens. It could be a very exciting summer. Or it could be a massive let down.
WIOTOS…
As it happens we are starting in a better position than last year anyway, as with the business done in January we already have a core of players.
Still, at least this time it feels like it really could be a bit different.
Something similar in League One can't be so much more expensive, can it?
I watched a report on Sky this morning and of course the correlation between £spend and success is very high. Let's hope our owners can bankroll whatever Jones is asking them for. If not, I doubt he'll stay.